17 charged in 3-year fraud ring tied to Volusia

Wednesday

Jan 30, 2013 at 8:09 AMJan 30, 2013 at 8:58 AM

Suspects had fraudulent profits of more than $500,000, state investigators said

PATRICIO G. BALONASTAFF WRITER

Seventeen persons are accused of running a statewide fraud scheme which netted the suspects profits in excess of $500,000, investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement working with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.

The 17 individuals were charged with with organized scheme to defraud, conspiracy to commit organized scheme to defraud, criminal use of personal identification information, conspiracy to commit criminal use of personal identification information, and criminal use of fictitious or personal identification information, an FDLE news release said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement Orlando Regional Operations Center charged the suspects after a two-year-long investigation of the statewide organized fraud, the release said.

The investigation began in late 2010 in partnership with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. The ring involved an organized group of individuals who commonly used counterfeit checks to buy merchandise from large retail stores throughout Florida. The counterfeit checks displayed fraudulent information and/or stolen account numbers, FDLE and Volusia sheriff's investigators said.

Investigators said fraud suspects used the counterfeit checks along with phony driver's licenses and identification cards to purchase store merchandise. The merchandise would be kept for a short period of time, only to be returned later for cash or gift cards.

In some incidents, members of the group used the counterfeit checks to directly purchase store gift cards then used to buy Visa or American Express gift cards at a sister store. The money cards could be used almost anywhere, investigators said.